Jeremiah 19:2

2 and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, just outside the Potsherd Gate, and preach there what I tell you.

Jeremiah 19:2 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 19:2

And go forth into the valley of the son of Hinnom
To whom it formerly belonged, and so it was called as early as Joshua's time, ( Joshua 15:8 ) ; from the faith and abomination of the place, and the shocking torments here exercised, "hell", from hence, in the New Testament, is called "Gehenna": here the prophet with the elders were to go, for reasons after mentioned; because here their cruel idolatries were committed, and Jerusalem was to be made like unto it for pollution and bloodshed: which [is] by the entry of the east gate;
the way to it out of Jerusalem lay through the east gate of the city. The Targum calls it "the dung gate"; through which the filth of the city was carried out, and laid near it, and where lay the potter's sherds; hence some render it the "potsherd" gate ^F13; or rather it should be the potter's gate; for that reason, because the potter's field and house lay near it, from whence the prophet had his earthen bottle; others call it the "sun gate" ^F14, because it lay to the sun rising; but seeing the valley of Hinnom was to the south of Jerusalem, this seems rather to be the south gate; and a proper situation this was for the potters to dry and harden their pots. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, leave it untranslated, and call it the gate Harsith or Hadsith: and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee;
for as yet it was not made known to him what he should do with his bottle, or say to the elders, until he came to the place he was ordered to.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (tyorxh rev) "portae fictilis", Munster, Pagninus.
F14 "Portae solaris", Montanus, Piscator, Cocceius; so Ben Melech, and Stockius, p. 389.

Jeremiah 19:2 In-Context

1 God said to me, "Go, buy a clay pot. Then get a few leaders from the people and a few of the leading priests

2 and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, just outside the Potsherd Gate, and preach there what I tell you.

3 "Say, 'Listen to God's Word, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem! This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel. I'm about to bring doom crashing down on this place. Oh, and will ears ever ring!

4 Doom - because they've walked off and left me, and made this place strange by worshiping strange gods, gods never heard of by them, their parents, or the old kings of Judah. Doom - because they have massacred innocent people.

5 Doom - because they've built altars to that no-god Baal, and burned their own children alive in the fire as offerings to Baal, an atrocity I never ordered, never so much as hinted at!